Category: Business

• Emily Piehl owns a house with a big backyard in Antioch, about 60 miles from downtown Chicago.
• A year ago, she started renting out her backyard as a private dog park, charging $10 an hour.
• The income she is earning from the side hustle, through the app Sniffspot, has helped the single mom of two.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Emily Piehl, a 54-year-old elementary school STEM teacher from Antioch, Illinois, who started renting out her backyard on Sniffspot in 2023. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm a single mom living in Antioch, Illinois — between Milwaukee and Chicago — with two teenagers and a hound.

I've been teaching for a long time and earn a decent amount of money, but the cost of living has increased. In the past, I've had some trouble paying bills. I don't have a spouse or a roommate, so I don't have other income coming in — it's just me and my kids.

A little less than a year ago, I saw an ad on Facebook about hosting on Sniffspot. It's an app that helps homeowners in renting out their yards as private dog parks. It's a good option for dog owners with reactive pets or those who are uncomfortable with traditional dog parks.

After finding out more information about Sniffspot, I decided to clean up my backyard and give it a try.

I'm making a good amount of money

I have a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house. It has a large fenced backyard that's about a quarter of an acre. There aren't a lot of trees, making it a great spot for dogs to run around and have fun.

Since starting to rent out my yard last July, I've earned $3,000 so far. While it's not a large amount of money, it covers nearly two mortgage payments. Additionally, it has allowed me to purchase new tires for my vehicle, handle bills, and recently, fund a two-night hotel stay for my kids and me to travel to Pennsylvania to visit my sick dad.

Before Sniffspot, these extra expenses would have really impacted my monthly budget.

It's not difficult becoming a Sniffspot host

Preparing my yard to host wasn't difficult. I didn't have to do any major tree trimming, just some cleaning up.

I added a patio umbrella, relocated a table to a specific area, placed cushions for chairs, and bought some dog toys. I probably spent around $200 — I didn't put a lot of money into it.

There aren't many Sniffspots in my area, but I have visitors often, even during the winter months.

Sniffspot allows hosts to set their price, though they offer a recommended price. To determine my rate, I looked at similar Sniffspots within a 10- to0 15-mile radius. I settled on $10 per hour.

The company has a policy where, if guests bring additional dogs, they receive a 50% discount. A lot of my guests have two dogs, so if they come for an hour, they're charged $15. Sinffspot takes out their fees, so I typically earn around $11.12.

I could charge more, but I don't want to charge too much and not have people come.

When I started, the first visitors I had were two women I know, and my neighbor across the street.

Now, I have around six to eight regular visitors. Two of them have memberships and visit frequently, with one even coming twice a day or at least every day. Then there are others who come every once in a while. Recently, I've been getting a lot more returning guests.

The people who use my property are mainly in their 20s and 30s. While I've never asked them directly, I imagine many of them live in areas without fenced yards.

I have minimal contact with visitors

I typically don't have any direct contact with guests. They just schedule through the app and notify me of their arrival.

I provide information on accessing the yard through the side gate, and then they have the space to themselves. If they have any questions, they can message me through the app, which makes everything convenient.

I've never felt uncomfortable with people in my yard. They've always been respectful of the property and clean up after themselves. I haven't encountered any problems so far.

I had a guy visit a few times who had recently adopted a new puppy from a local rescue. He was working with a dog trainer because his dog would bark and lunge at people while walking.

The trainer suggested trying out a private dog park. He mentioned that the first time his dog was off the leash in my yard, it was his first time ever. It made me so happy.

It's nice to peek out of my kitchen window and see all of the dogs running around and having fun.

The passive income has been a blessing

I am a single parent, and I don't have family in the area. For a long time, I've been trying to find ways to make extra money without having to do a lot of extra work. (I even considered driving for UberEats for a while.)

While there are other methods to make money, like renting out rooms in your homes, I prefer not to do so while my kids are at home.

Being on Sniffspot helps me have a little comfort. When I first started, my 17-year-old son told me, "That's passive income, mom." He's right.

Hopefully, more and more people will learn about Sniffspot.

• Three Gen Z software engineers at Google shared their résumés that landed them an interview.
• One applied with references and the other two sent in cold applications. 
• All three interned at a Big Tech company, had a 3.6 GPA or higher, and studied computer science.

Google is well known for offering its employees cushy Silicon Valley pay and enviable office perks — but it's also known for being extremely competitive.

The tech giant reportedly receives millions of applicants a year and has been said to be more difficult to get into than Harvard.

So what does the résumé of a successful applicant look like?

BI spoke to three recent graduates who now work as software engineers at Google. They each shared the résumé they used to land an interview — but it's important to remember there's no silver bullet for getting your foot in the door at Google.

Two of them sent in cold applications, and the third applied with references. All three went through Google's lengthy interview process which included a super round of interviews that lasted multiple hours.

The three résumés varied in style and content. Some were heavy in text and others didn't fill the full page. But one factor all three applicants had in common was an internship at a Big Tech company.

They also all had a degree in computer science and listed their GPAs, which were between 3.6 and 3.8.

Check out their résumés below and see what the Googlers had to say about what they think stood out in their applications.

Kevin Tsui is a 24-year-old software engineer at Google. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Computing and Information in 2022 and said he applied to Google with no referrals at the time.

Tsui said he felt it was important to show multiple years of work experience, even if not every internship was related to what he does now.

He also said he felt that spending two years at a bigger name, like Amazon, which also gave him global product experience, may have helped him stand out.

Tsui said he decided to include outside interests on his résumé, like cooking and traveling, because he wanted to show that his coworkers could connect with him outside work.

A job isn't just doing that kind of work 24/7, Tsui said, you need to "be a person" in your off hours.

Tsui said he felt that it's important to be a team member and sociable.

Eric Stein is a 23-year-old software engineer at Google. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 2022 and applied with three connections at the company.

He said he thought his involvement with the Google Developer Student Club was the biggest contribution to his résumé, and it ended up getting him his references too.

"That showed my commitment to Google and my commitment to improving the world around me with technology," Stein said.

He said another highlight on his résumé was his inclusion of personal projects, like being the cofounder of Pareto Touch. He said he thought of it as a testament to his willingness to find work if he didn't have any. He also said he thought it showed his dedication to sharpening his skills.

Matt Wilkinson is a 24-year-old software engineer at Google. He graduated from American University in 2021 and applied to Google without a reference.

He said he thought his experience at Roku stood out the most on his résumé. While he's not necessarily working in the same specialization at Google that he did at Roku, he worked in a software engineering role at both jobs.

Wilkinson said he started off as a finance major and switched after sophomore year. He said because of that, he didn't have as many tech experiences and felt it was important to include some projects he worked on related to the field. He also said he thinks his role in one of the projects helped show leadership.

Do you work at Google? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work device and email at aaltchek@businessinsider.com

• Gen Z graduate Jane started working two jobs in college to pay for her rent and save for a mortgage.
• She told Business Insider being over-employed has a detrimental impact on her health and well-being.
• Jane said working hard is worth it if she can achieve FIRE by her early 30s.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jane, a 25-year-old over-employed worker in Canada. She asked to use only her first name for privacy reasons. Business Insider has verified her identity and employment. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I work two jobs a day. The first is my 9-to-5, and after that, I work in customer service until 10 p.m. I work twice as hard now so I can stop working earlier. My goal is to retire early, hopefully in my 30s.

I started working two jobs while I was finishing my sociology and business major in college in 2021.

There were so many remote opportunities during and following COVID-19. If I were having to commute between two jobs, I don't think I'd be doing this.

I was influenced by the FIRE community

I came across the FIRE movement (financial independence, retire early) on Reddit. I started documenting my FIRE journey on TikTok. I want to show there's a different path to retiring at 65.

My logic is to front-load my investing to my 20s and hope it pays off in the future. I want to be financially independent so that I can become "work-optional." I think that, in this economic climate, completely retiring and never making money again may no longer be possible.

But it might mean that I can take career breaks or have periods of life when I can cut back on work.

In college, I worked up to 40 hours alongside a 9-to-5

When I first started working two jobs in college, one was a 9-to-5 in marketing, and the other was in customer service, which I still have. Back then, I'd spend between 30 and 40 hours a week doing that on top of the 9-5. I book appointments for people. If they have an issue with their furnace or their toilet, I'd book a technician or a plumber. It's less stressful than marketing, where sometimes I worry about the projects overnight.

I also had a lot of homework. My marketing job was flexible, so I could do my college work during my lunch breaks or quiet periods. In reality, a remote office job is rarely 40 hours a week.

I had physical symptoms of stress

I was incredibly stressed during that period. I was determined to keep up seeing my friends and go to the gym too, so I sacrificed my sleep. I slept between four and six hours a night.

I had a permanent headache. It was really difficult.

I was renting, and I felt like I needed to prove that I could keep making my rental payments. I also wanted to buy a property, and having the income meant I could secure a mortgage in 2021. Having the FIRE mentality helped me push through.

I got all my schoolwork done, but it did take away from my college experience in some ways. If I'd had more time, I would've cared more about my major. But, investing in a property at that time was beneficial. Looking back, it was worth the trade-off.

I kept up my 2 jobs after college

It felt natural to continue working two jobs after graduating from college in 2022.

If I couldn't start out with a high-paying job like people going into STEM jobs, the least I could do is work harder.

I landed a new job as a marketing specialist, which was also 9-to-5. I kept up my customer service job, working 65 hours over two weeks. I did that from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and on the weekends.

I'd take two days off a week from my second job. Working on weekends sucked. I really wanted one day a week to lie in. But I don't find it hard to switch between the two jobs. I don't find customer service as mentally draining as marketing. It's not stressful, it's just time-consuming.

I live frugally

I have a weird relationship with money, which I'm trying to work on. I earned 47,000 Canadian dollars so far this year from both jobs, which is around $34,000, plus commission, which varies. I save about 70% of that a month. I invest most of my savings. It's not for everyone, but it was important to me that I became financially literate in my 20s and was able to start investing early.

I live at home with my family too, and rent out the property I bought in college.

When I'm not spending money, I feel stingy. But when I do spend it, I feel guilty. Instead of buying lunch or a drink with dinner, I feel like I should save money for bigger things.

I struggle to keep up with hobbies

I used to go rock climbing and paint, but I don't have time for hobbies. I try to see my friends when I have evenings or weekends off. But after working all day, I often just want to stay at home and decompress. I could go to the gym or take a walk at lunch, but I often want to nap instead or play on my phone. I just want to do something passive.

When the sun goes down at 6 p.m. in winter, I've had days where I look out of the window and realize I've had no sun or exercise all day.

To give myself more time to go outside and exercise, I reduced my customer service job hours to 55 hours over two weeks and stopped working Sundays in May. I'm still burned out, though.

My family is proud of my ambition, but I think they'd prefer I didn't work so hard. Living at home, they can see how it affects me.

There are also so many smart people in my community. I feel pressure to keep up. My older brother is quite accomplished, so a little of the pressure I feel comes from comparing myself to him.

My drive to continue outweighs my burnout. I know it's not good for my physical and mental health or my sleep, but I'm so focused on my goal that I'm willing to sacrifice that for a few more years.

If you work two full-time jobs and would like to share your story, email Ella Hopkins at ehopkins@businessinsider.com.

• Alphabet, Inc. on Wednesday announced the appointment of its new CFO, Anat Ashkenazi.
• Ashkenazi previously worked at Eli Lilly for more than two decades.
• She will receive a nearly $10 million signing bonus, $1 million salary, and stock options.

Alphabet, Inc. on Wednesday announced the appointment of Anat Ashkenazi as its new Chief Financial Officer, who will oversee Alphabet and Google operations.

Upon signing up with the tech giant, the former Eli Lilly executive raked in a $9.9 million signing bonus, The Wall Street Journal reported, in addition to an equity grant worth $13.1 million in the form of restricted stock units, plus her $1 million annual salary — with eligibility for annual bonuses up to 200% of her base salary.

Ashkenazi will stay on as senior vice president and CFO at the pharmaceutical company through the end of July before taking on her new role with Google. A search is underway for her successor at Eli Lilly where she worked for over two decades, Business Insider previously reported.

According to her biography, Ashkenazi graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she earned her bachelor's degree in finance and economics, and Tel Aviv University, where she earned her MBA.

Before joining Eli Lilly in 2001, she worked in financial services at Maalot Standard & Poor's and Bank Hapoalim in Israel.

More notably, the last 23 years of her career have been spent in various roles across Eli Lilly — including positions in strategy, finance, and, most recently, as senior vice president, controller, and CFO of Lilly Research Laboratories.

As senior vice president, she served as CFO for several of the company's global sectors, including manufacturing and research and development, and oversaw the corporate strategic planning team.

During Ashkenazi's tenure, Eli Lilly has achieved a market cap of over $800 billion, largely thanks to two of the company's newer products — Mounjaro and Zepbound, popular antidiabetic medications for weight loss and treating type 2 diabetes.

Her transition to Google comes as the tech giant invests heavily in artificial intelligence. Alphabet's stock hit its all-time high on May 21 at $179.54 per share.

"This was a strong candidate that fills a void for Alphabet at a key time in its growth transformation and AI Revolution," Dan Ives, Wedbush Securities managing partner, told Business Insider: "She has a strong reputation and great CFO experience. Right hire at the right time."

In her new role at Google, Ashkenazi will succeed Ruth Porat, who served as CFO before she was named chief investment officer last year.

Representatives for Google and Eli Lilly did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• President Joe Biden's reelection bid has the strong backing of most elected Democrats.
• Biden is committed to the race, but there's public speculation on whether he'll stay in the contest.
• In the unlikely event that Biden left the race, an array of Democrats would be in the mix to lead the party.

After President Joe Biden announced his reelection bid last April, the vast majority of Democratic leaders coalesced around his candidacy, which wasn't surprising for an incumbent.

But Biden has one of the most unusual backgrounds of any president in US history: He's been a fixture in Washington for more than 50 years as a Delaware senator, vice president, and now president. And if he's reelected to a second term this fall, he'd be 82 years old at the time of his inauguration in January 2025 and 86 at the end of a second term.

Biden's age has become a cause of concern among many voters, including some who are inclined to back him over former President Donald Trump. The worries were amplified after the special counsel Robert Hur released his report on the probe into Biden's handling of classified documents, in which no charges were recommended, but the president's acuity and memory were questioned.

Through it all, Biden has defended his reelection bid, argued that his age is an asset, pushed back against the special-counsel report, and articulated why he should be reelected — pointing to accomplishments such as the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act and touting the low national unemployment numbers.

What does this all mean? Biden is unlikely to leave the race, especially as he dominated the Democratic presidential primaries and is committed to a rematch with Trump. But speculation about whether he'll bow out of the contest continues to swirl.

In the event that Biden does somehow bow out after winning the overwhelming majority of the 3,936 delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination, a new nominee would have to be selected at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August. But it'd be a messy process given that the primaries are now completed.

Virtually every major Democratic governor or senator is behind the president's reelection bid and long ago dismissed the thought of replacing him on the ballot this year.

But who could be a Biden successor if such a scenario were to occur?

Vice President Kamala Harris

Harris, by many measures, would be a natural successor to Biden.

As vice president, she's worked closely with Biden on things as varied as voting rights and foreign policy. She was previously a San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general, and California senator and is a historic figure in her own right as the first Black, Indian American, and female vice president.

And she has become the face of the administration's challenge to the raft of GOP-crafted abortion restrictions following the Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

But Harris previously launched a 2020 presidential bid that seemed promising but fell flat with voters over time. (She eventually ended her campaign before the start of the primaries and caucuses.)

As vice president, Harris has been heavily praised by Biden. But her office struggled with turnover and reports of dysfunction earlier in her term. She has also had to contend with less-than-ideal approval ratings, which have raised concerns among some Democrats about her electability as the party also looks to 2028 — when she'd be a potential frontrunner, given her positive marks with Black voters and young voters.

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor who was also California's lieutenant governor, leads the most populated state in the country and, in recent years, has become one of Biden's most prominent Democratic surrogates.

California is often used as a foil by national Republicans to contrast with the conservative policies of states such as Florida and Texas. But Newsom has been outspoken in not only promoting the Golden State but touting Democratic policy stances and legislative wins — and he's not afraid to take his arguments straight to the GOP.

As governor, Newsom has taken on more moderate stances in recent years on issues involving labor and tackling homelessness in his state.

Newsom's political trajectory could collide with that of Harris, his fellow Bay Area native, but they've long maintained a strong working relationship, and the governor has been highly complimentary of her work with Biden.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the two-term governor of battleground Michigan, is accustomed to tough political fights. And over the course of her governorship, she has won a lot of those battles: Democrats in recent years have performed strongly in the Wolverine State, holding every top statewide office and flipping control of the state legislature in the 2022 midterm elections.

When Whitmer ran for reelection in 2022 against the Republican Tudor Dixon, she won by nearly 11 points, reflective of her broad appeal with the electorate in a state where the margins are often tight.

This fall, Michigan is expected to be one of the closest states in the country in the presidential race. And Whitmer, a former state lawmaker and ex-prosecutor, is set to be a critical voice for the Biden campaign across Michigan.

The governor has encouraged Biden to speak more forcefully about abortion rights, an issue that has galvanized many voters — but especially women — across the country after Roe was overturned.

In a potential field without Biden, Whitmer's Midwestern background, strong alliance with organized labor, and moderate appeal could make her a strong contender. But she would also be a new face in a contest that will probably feature Trump on the GOP side.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who's served in the Senate since 2007, ran for president in 2020 and made a surprisingly strong finish in the New Hampshire primary — even outperforming Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts at the time.

But her campaign wasn't able to get the sort of momentum it needed in the South Carolina primary for her to continue her bid, and she exited the race.

Still, Klobuchar would be a candidate to watch in an open field, as she boosted her national presence in the primary and could point to a long-standing record of bipartisan accomplishments representing Minnesota in the Senate.

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey

Sen. Cory Booker also ran for president in 2020, ending his campaign in January that year.

But the former Newark mayor has been a national figure for years and is seen as a likely 2028 contender.

He could easily jump-start a potential 2028 campaign in South Carolina, as he campaigned throughout the state in 2019 and 2020.

In the scenario that Democrats would have to choose a candidate other than Biden, he would probably be a part of the conversation.

Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina

Gov. Roy Cooper isn't a big name among Democratic voters outside North Carolina, at least not yet. The former state lawmaker, onetime North Carolina attorney general, and current two-term governor rose through the ranks of government and, along the way, navigated political divides that would bedevil most politicians.

In a GOP-leaning state where Democratic candidates have to compete on tricky terrain, Cooper, a moderate, has come out on top.

Democrats have not tapped a Southern governor as their presidential nominee since Bill Clinton in 1992. Looking to the future, probably in 2028, Cooper is someone who's poised to be on the minds of many in the party.

Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland

Gov. Wes Moore, an Army veteran who's also a Rhodes Scholar, was first elected to the governorship in 2022. He has focused heavily on tackling issues such as child poverty and housing affordability, two of the most vexing public-policy challenges for leaders on both the state and federal levels.

One of Moore's major pushes is to reshape how patriotism is defined in politics, as he told Business Insider during his first gubernatorial campaign that one party or movement couldn't claim the idea as their own.

"I refuse to let anybody try to wrestle that away," Moore told BI in an October 2022 interview, "or claim that they have a higher stake or some higher claim to it than I or my family or people who I served with or my community members."

The governor, seen by many as a potential 2028 contender, has been a strong political ally of both Biden and Harris.

While Moore may be relatively new to elective politics, his profile only continues to grow within the Democratic Party.

Correction: February 23, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated one of President Joe Biden's arguments for why he should be reelected. He has touted low national unemployment numbers, not low national employment numbers.

• Virginia is a foundational piece of President Joe Biden's road map for winning a second term.
• However, recent polling in the state shows Biden and Trump tied or nearly tied among voters.
• Republicans now believe Trump has a fighting chance in the state.

In 2020, it was a foregone conclusion that Joe Biden would win Virginia in that year's presidential contest.

Four years earlier, Donald Trump lost the state to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, even as he captured the White House. Trump never built firm political footing in Virginia, and his unpopularity there fueled major Republican losses in state legislative races in 2017 and 2019 — especially in suburban swing districts.

Biden's considerable standing among Black voters, independents, and voters aged 18 to 29 buoyed the onetime vice president to a huge 10-point victory over Trump in Virginia in 2020.

But as the 2024 contest enters its critical summer stretch, recent polling shows Biden and Trump are now deadlocked in Virginia, a development that has major implications for both candidates.

Will Biden have to spend time campaigning in a state that many he already had in the bag? Is Trump getting a third look from voters who previously rejected him twice?

Here's a look at the state of the race in Virginia, where Biden holds some significant advantages ahead of November:

Why is Biden lagging in Virginia?

The latest Fox News survey of registered Virginia voters showed Biden and Trump tied with 48% support, while Biden held a one-point lead (42% to 41%) when the race included third-party candidates. A Roanoke College poll taken last month showed Biden and Trump tied at 42% support among likely voters, with 8% of respondents indicating that they would back independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

These numbers represent a softening on Biden's part, as he won 54% of the state's votes in 2020, compared to Trump's 44%.

In the Fox News poll, Biden had a 42% favorability rating and a 43% job approval rating, which align with many of his national polling figures. While Virginia has largely trended Democratic in recent years, Biden's numbers are a reminder that it is not a reliably blue state, but one with a blue tinge. (Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's election in 2021 reflects that.)

While Virginia voters give Biden high marks on issues like climate change, abortion rights, and election integrity, it is Trump who comes out on top on issues like the economy, the Israel-Hamas war, and immigration.

Since the latter three issues routinely rank as some of voters' biggest concerns, this has allowed Trump to poll competitively with Biden in Virginia.

The Fox News poll also showed Trump winning an unusually high 25% of Black voters, a figure that if realized would represent a modern record for a GOP presidential nominee in the state. And the survey showed no polling gap between voters aged 18 to 29 and those aged 65 years and older, with the candidates tied at 48% among both age groups.

What boosts Biden's chances in the state?

In recent years, Democrats have solidified their support in Virginia's most populous regions — from Northern Virginia to the Richmond metropolitan area and down to Hampton Roads. These areas contain scores of suburban communities where moderates from both parties, as well as independents, generally decide statewide elections.

Many of these voters tend to lean toward Biden, given their most recent voting trends.

In the Fox News poll, Biden led Trump among independents (45% to 43%) despite his diminished standing in the state. And Biden still retained robust majorities from college-educated voters (56%) and suburban women (58%) — blocs crucial for the president and down-ballot Democrats.

And in Northern Virginia — an electoral gold mine for Democrats — Trump remains unpopular. If turnout is high in the region, Trump must post massive numbers in rural Virginia and downstate exurbs to win.

Youngkin, in a recent Fox News interview, said the recent polling numbers meant Virginia would be "in play" in November.

But surveys closer to Labor Day will likely offer a clearer sense of the true nature of Virginia's competitiveness, as many voters remain tuned out of the election — while some who are currently leaning toward third-party candidates may return to Biden's fold.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has at least two daughters he rarely talks about.
• He has two daughters with his ex-wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva: Maria and Katerina, both in their 30s.
• He may have one daughter with his rumored ex-girlfriend Alina Kabaeva and another with a mistress.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is famously secretive about his personal life.

Putin has long tried to shield his personal life from the spotlight.

He has rarely publicly acknowledged his children, though media outlets have for years reported that he has two daughters with his ex-wife.

Putin is also rumored to have had extramarital affairs that may have produced other children.

Putin's family affairs are so secretive that reports of his daughter's second marriage only emerged eight years after the fact.

But as international pressure mounts on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, sanctions have closed in on his personal networks — and in particular, his children and rumored girlfriends.

One daughter from his first marriage, Katerina Tikhonova, has been entrusted with a key job overseeing import substitutions as Russia reels under sanctions.

Just weeks before the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin's rumored then-girlfriend Alina Kabaeva praised the state's war correspondents, saying their work is as effective as "a Kalashnikov."

Here is what we know about the lives of Putin's secret kids and partners.

Putin had two daughters with his first wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva, a former flight attendant

Sources: Vladimir Putin, Reuters, Business Insider

Their daughters' names are Maria and Katerina. Maria was born in St. Petersburg in 1985, and Katerina was born in Germany in 1986.

Sources: Vladimir Putin, Reuters, Newsweek

Both girls are named after their grandmothers. Maria's nickname is Masha, and Katerina's nickname is Katya.

Masha and Katya are common Russian shortenings for Maria and Katerina.

Sources: Vladimir Putin, Reuters, Newsweek

When the family moved to Moscow in 1996, the girls attended a German-language school. The children were reportedly removed from school when Putin became acting president, and teachers educated them at home.

Source: Newsweek

"Not all fathers are as loving with their children as he is," Lyudmila said in an undated quote on Putin's government website. "And he has always spoiled them, while I was the one who had to discipline them."

Source: Vladimir Putin

But as Putin gained political power, his children saw him less and less, according to one of his early biographers.

His first official biographer, Natalya Gevorkyan, interviewed him and his family in 1999.

The family was soon isolated and surrounded by security after Putin became prime minister for the first time, she said.

His daughters told her that they admired their father and were proud of him, but it appeared they didn't get to see him much, she said.

Source: BBC Sounds

Putin's marriage may also have been loveless. Lyudmila "was not a happy woman" and Putin wouldn't "hold" her, his biographer said.

"I understood that [Lyudmila] was not a happy woman. She was not," the biographer Gevorkyan said, speaking of her interviews conducted in 1999.

Gevorkyan said she had the impression Putin did not love her. She recalled Lyudmila as saying: "There are women who are admired by men, I think I am not that kind of woman. He will not hold me in his hands."

Gevorkyan said Lyudmila's tone was "more with respect" to her husband.

"I had the feeling that she really loved him," she added. "And I had a feeling that she was not that much loved back. I didn't have the feeling that it was a successful marriage for her."

Source: BBC Sounds

Putin and Lyudmila announced their divorce in 2013, although they were likely living separate lives long before that.

Lyudmila had become "almost invisible" in Putin's public life, according to professor of international affairs at New York's New School, Nina Khrushcheva. 

Putin was rumored to be seeing Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, while Luydmila was believed to have begun dating businessman and triathlete Arthur Ocheretny by around 2010. 

Sources: BBC, Proekt, Politico.

Meanwhile, the daughters were growing up. Maria studied biology before medical school, while Katerina majored in Asian Studies in college. Both girls attended university under false identities.

Sources: Reuters, Newsweek

There are no official current photos of the women. For Katerina, we found the slightly varying first names of "Katerina", "Katya", and "Yekaterina," and the last names "Putina," "Tikhonova," and "Shamalov."

Sources: Reuters, Newsweek

Maria is a medical researcher. According to reports, she married Dutch businessman Jorrit Faassen, although it's unclear exactly when.

Maria appears to have a lower public profile than Katerina. Here, she is seen presenting at a 2022 pediatrics conference. 

Sources: Reuters, Newsweek, Bloomberg

Maria and Faassen reportedly have a child — Putin told filmmaker Oliver Stone in 2017 that he was a grandfather. When Stone asked if he played with his grandchild, Putin replied: "Very seldom, unfortunately."

Sources: Reuters, The Independent, Bloomberg, Daily Mail

Meanwhile, Katerina reportedly lives a high-flying life, living in lavish apartments and acquiring a fortune.

Sources: Reuters, The Independent, Bloomberg, Daily Mail

Katerina is an accomplished acrobatic dancer, tech executive, and has a post overseeing Russian import substitutions.

She runs Innopraktika, one of the university's initiatives to foster young scientists, as well as being deputy director of a mathematical institute there.  

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN

Here she is in her dancing days at the 2013 Rock 'n' Roll World Championship in Winterthur, Switzerland, representing Russia.

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqev6zBExMw?start=286&w=560&h=315]

She took fifth place at that year's final. 

Source: WRRC

Katerina married Russian billionaire Kirill Shamalov in 2013, though they are reportedly no longer together. Their wedding was a lavish affair at the Igora resort in St. Petersburg.

The wedding was highly secure and included a laser show, an ice-skating display, and a mock Russian village, according to Reuters. 

A 2023 investigation found that the couple, though married by a priest in an elaborate ceremony, never formalized their vows at the registry office, as required by the Russian Orthodox Church. The report suggested this was connected to the structure of the family's vast and secretive property holdings. 

By 2018, the pair had split, according to Bloomberg. 

Sources: Reuters, The Guardian, Proekt   

Shamalov prospered during the marriage, racking up lucrative business interests. By the time he and Katerina split in 2018, the divorce papers revealed they were worth $2 billion.

As early as 2016, the couple were hardly corresponding, and Shamalov had seen lucrative shares in energy company Sibur returned to Putin's friends, a 2023 investigation reported. 

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, Proekt

Flight records suggest that in 2017, Katerina had begun a clandestine relationship with German ballet star Igor Zelensky and had a daughter with him.

Zelensky has served as the director of the Bavarian State Ballet and the Munich State Ballet. 

Sources: Important Stories, Der Spiegel

Katerina secretly flew to Munich more than 50 times to see Zelensky between 2017 and 2019, with their daughter in tow.

The relationship was revealed by a 2022 investigation that examined Katerina's flight records, showing that she traveled with members of Putin's presidential secret service.

Source: Important Stories, Der Spiegel

 

Meanwhile, Maria Vorontsova split with Faassen and had a child with businessman Evgeny Nagorny, independent Russian media reported.

A post shared by Barkli_rus (@barkli_rus)

//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js

 

Nagorny — who formerly showed an interest in opposition politics — has been flying around the world with Vorontsova since at least 2016, according to a joint investigation by Russian outlets Meduza and Current Time.

They had a child together, and Nagorny became the manager of major gas company Novatek, the outlets reported. 

In 2020, per the outlets, Nagorny bought a luxury Moscow apartment in the building pictured above.  

Sources: Meduza, Current Time.

There are rumors that Putin has a third daughter with ex-girlfriend and former Russian rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva.

It's unclear exactly when Putin began dating the famed gymnast, but rumors were swirling long before he and Lyudmila announced their divorce. 

In a 2008 news conference in Italy, a reporter asked him about the chatter, which Putin dismissed, adding: "I always disliked people who go around with their erotic fantasies, sticking their snot-ridden noses into another person's life."

Source: New York Post, Proekt, NPR

Neither the child nor the relationship with Kabaeva have been confirmed by Russia.

After retiring from gymnastics, Kabaeva became an MP for the pro-Kremlin United Russia party until 2014.

She went on to head up the country's largest media conglomerate, the National Media Group. 

Source: Business Insider, TASS. 

Reports have also surfaced that a former cleaning lady, Svetlana Krivonogikh, had an affair with Putin and suddenly moved into one of St. Petersburg's wealthiest neighborhoods.

Independent investigations have reported that the pair had a close friendship between the late 1990s and the end of the 2010s, which resulted in a daughter.

In that time, Krivonogikh went from a former cleaning lady to the billionaire owner of one of Putin's favorite ski resorts.

Sources: Proekt, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

Krivonogikh's daughter, who was born in 2003, is named Elizaveta Vladimirovna Rozova and goes by Luisa. Identity papers do not indicate a father, but her middle name means "daughter of Vladimir." She has not confirmed any relationship.

The Proekt investigation remarked on Elizaveta's "phenomenal resemblance" to Putin and many connections between the president and her mother, but no relationship has been proven.

In a 2021 magazine interview, Elizaveta's face was not depicted. When asked whether she looked like Putin, she agreed, but said "there are a lot of people similar to Vladimir Vladimirovich," using an alternative, respectful name for Putin.

Sources: Proekt, Russian GQ

Putin has tried to shelter his children from the media, attempting to keep them out of politics.

Sources: Reuters, Business Insider

Despite this, Katerina made her debut on Russian state TV as a biotechnology expert in December 2018.

Her appearance did not include comments on her being related to Putin. The link was briefly made public in the course of a dance competition, but later retracted.

Source: Business Insider, Reuters

In June 2021, Katerina addressed a conference that's considered Russia's equivalent of Davos — but nobody called her Putin's daughter, apparently out of fear of reprisal from the Kremlin.

Source: Washington Post

In late 2020, Putin announced Russia had finished its COVID-19 vaccine, although it had yet to complete clinical assessments. Putin said he gave the shot to one of his daughters, but wouldn't specify which one.

Sources: Business Insider, BBC, Politico

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, prompting condemnation from around the world. No statement came from Katerina or Maria, but scrutiny of their families ramped up.

In March 2022, an activist broke into a property owned by Katerina's ex-husband Kirill Shamalov in Biarritz, France, saying he was going to use it to host Ukrainian refugees.

More than a year later, as the war dragged on, Dutch authorities seized land belonging to Maria's ex-husband Jorrit Faassen, who was under suspicion of evading sanctions. 

Sources: Insider, The Insider, The Guardian

In April 2022, the US sanctioned Maria and Katerina, saying that they had "enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people."

A White House statement said: "This action cuts them off from the US financial system and freezes any assets they hold in the United States."

The UK quickly followed suit, saying it was targeting Maria and Katerina's "lavish lifestyles." 

 

 

The US announcement also contained more details about their work, saying that it has close ties to the Kremlin.

Tikhonova's work supports Russia's government and defense industry, while Vorontsova's genetics research programs are personally overseen by Putin, the White House said.

Source: ABC News

The US said it believed the women were hiding assets for Putin, which was its rationale for sanctioning them. The Kremlin suggested the move was anti-Russian.

"We believe that many of Putin's assets are hidden with family members and that's why we're targeting them," a senior official at the Biden administration said, according to ABC News.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin's top spokesperson, said the Kremlin found the decision "difficult to understand" and framed it as part of a "rabid" Western animosity towards Russia.

Sources: ABC News, Reuters

 

Since Spring of 2022, the list of countries that have slapped sanctions on Maria and Katerina has only grown.

Now, the US, UK, European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan have all imposed sanctions on the women.

Sources: Associated Press, Reuters, Reuters, Japan Times, New Zealand Herald

In July 2022, as sanctions began to bite in Russia, Katerina was given a top post overseeing import substitutions.

Tikhonova was appointed to a position at the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, known as RSPP.

Putin critics speculated that the shakeup at RSPP, a key Russian business lobby, was done to help bolster the country's lagging economy, which remains heavily dependent on foreign imports and has suffered from the bevy of international sanctions imposed due to the war in Ukraine. 

State media reporting on Tikhonova's appointment didn't mention her relationship to Putin.

Sources: RBC, Fortune

In the summer of 2022, the US added Kabaeva to its sanctions list, citing her "close relationship" with Putin.

The US government had initially held off sanctioning Kabaeva on the basis that it would be too personal a provocation to Putin — a reservation that suggests the White House, at least, is in no doubt about their relationship. 

But Kabaeva was finally sanctioned in August over her ties to the Russian government. 

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, US Treasury

In early February, Kabaeva made a rare speech at a media event, where she said Russia's media is as powerful as a Kalashnikov rifle in war.

Kabaeva made the speech to the National Media Group.

Her praise of "war correspondents" came just a couple of weeks ahead of the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

Sources: Insider, Newsweek

 

In March 2023, the Innopraktika Institute, headed up by Katerina, scolded Russian youth for not being patriotic enough online.

The report, which examined young people's social media activity, likened the drop in patriotism to a hybrid special military operation waged against Russia by foreign countries — using language more associated with how Putin characterizes his own invasion of Ukraine. 

Sources: The Moscow Times, Rozkomnadzor

Both daughters appeared at Russia's economic forum in 2024.

At the 2024 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Katerina appeared virtually, commenting on the "technological sovereignty" of the nation's military, CNN reported. 

The following day, Maria spoke in person on a panel about biotech innovations. Programming listed her as a member of the Russian Association for the Promotion of Science, according to CNN.

• TGI Fridays has struggled recently, closing dozens of restaurants earlier this year.
• But the company said it's seeing new success at "travel- and tourism-focused destinations."
• A TGI Fridays opened at a hotel in Holywood this week and an airport location is one of its busiest.

TGI Fridays says it is leaning into the travel industry to regain its footing with American diners.

The casual dining chain announced this week that it opened a new restaurant inside the Hilton Garden Inn in Hollywood. That might not seem revelatory on the surface, but the company called the new hotel-based restaurant "core to the brand's transformation strategy."

TGI Fridays has struggled to remain relevant with its domestic consumers in recent years. The chain suffered an 18% decline in domestic systemwide sales in 2023, The Dallas Morning News reported. And it closed 36 "underperforming" restaurants earlier this year.

The company now hopes focusing on the travel industry can turn things around.

"The new restaurant opening comes as TGI Fridays continues to see dominance across travel- and tourism-focused destinations, including airports, hotels, and casinos," the press release said.

TGI Fridays referenced the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, where it opened a newly renovated restaurant in July last year. That location is on track to become the "highest volume sales location of any US airport restaurant," the company says.

The chief development officer at TGI Fridays said the success presents a tangible opportunity for growth.

"Whether domestic or international, leisure or business, we're seeing travelers gravitate to the familiar comfort of the beloved and iconic Fridays brand while they're on the road and away from home," Chris Devlin said in the press release.

There are almost 600 TGI Fridays restaurants across the globe.

TGI Fridays has undergone several leadership changes since May 2023, when Ray Blanchette stepped down as CEO. Brandon Coleman III took over the position that August but resigned and was replaced by Weldon Spangler in November 2023.

• A war video appears to show a US-supplied M2 Bradley and a Russian personnel carrier fighting at close range.
• The video is believed to have been taken in the Donetsk region.
• The US has provided Ukraine with over 300 Bradley vehicles since Russia's invasion began.

A new war video released by Ukraine appears to show a US-supplied M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle shooting at a Russian armored personnel carrier at point-blank range.

The two vehicles race toward each other at high speed on a country road and launch continuous fire. At one moment, they come within a few feet of one another, narrowly avoiding collision. Soldiers are seen falling from the Russian armored car before it swerves off the road and appears to come to a stop, smoke billowing from its rear.

A caption accompanying the video reads: "The soldiers of the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade are holding back at least three Russian combat brigades. With huge manpower reserves, the Muscovites are quickly replenishing their heavy losses and throwing them back into battle. The fighting does not stop for a moment."

The Ukrainian military website Militarnyi reports that the Russian vehicle was a BTR-82A, built with a 30mm machine gun.

Business Insider could not independently verify where or when the video was taken.

DeepState, a Telegram analytics channel that tracks battlefield events, said the video was taken on the eastern outskirts of the village of Sokil in Ukraine's Donetsk oblast, not far from Chasiv Yar.

The channel stated that, according to the brigade's spokesperson, the Russian APC "subsequently exploded on mines laid by Ukraine's Defence Forces."

This is the second video in as many weeks in which Ukraine's 47th Mechanized Bridge has demonstrated what Bradley's Bushmaster M242 25mm automatic cannon can do in close combat.

The first, published on June 2, appeared to show a Bradley firing at two Russian personnel carriers. Russian soldiers can be seen dismounting and fleeing the vehicles.

The US State Department has provided Ukraine with "more than 300 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles" since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.

The Bradley IFV is an armored vehicle used for transporting troops and providing fire support. It is also sometimes used for reconnaissance missions.

The Bradley is quick and highly maneuverable. It is operated by a three-person crew consisting of a driver, the commander, and a gunner and can carry up to half a dozen fully equipped soldiers.

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder previously told reporters at a briefing that the Bradley is "not a tank, but it's a tank killer."

• Former Stanford undergrad Molly Cantillon, 20, founded NOX, a personalized AI assistant.
• The platform's goal is to understand its users and proactively execute tasks.
• Cantillon believes generative AI has broken down the barriers to who can disrupt the industry.

This is an as-told-to conversation with Molly Cantillon, a Stanford dropout and founder of NOX, a personalized AI assistant.

In the same way people cradled iPhones in their hands for the first time 17 years ago, this generation will never forget the first time they used ChatGPT — it felt like true magic.

It shattered the Silicon Valley tech barrier by bringing together people across cultures, occupations, and income levels with renewed optimism about the future. You can't go into a coffee shop without seeing it light up someone's screen.

I saw ChatGPT as a prologue to something more profound: A sophisticated personal assistant who understood me better than I understood myself.

People crave having someone they can consult before making big decisions, someone who replies on demand, coaches them from afar, and proactively completes tasks by considering important, forgotten details. It's the kind of companion Hollywood and sci-fi have always fantasized about but hadn't been possible before the generative AI revolution.

NOX, the personal AI assistant I built, was created to fill that void.

I'm building NOX to help people like me stay sane

I initially built NOX as a hardware solution in June 2023. I envisioned it as a wrist-worn recording device that would act as a second brain by capturing and recalling every detail of my daily interactions. It would store all my memorable conversations, action items, and even the small details I had noticed about a friend.

After that summer, I returned to Stanford with a box of jailbroken watches, distributed them to my friends, and waited for their feedback.

I would get texts throughout the day that their watch was overheating or had just died. As I troubleshot, I realized that the product's true value wasn't just in gathering data about its surroundings, but its ability to execute tasks proactively on behalf of the user.

With the help of OpenAI's models and tools, I pivoted NOX into a pure software solution that does exactly that. It integrates every stream of information and stimuli a person encounters, interprets them, resurfaces the most important details, and, most importantly, takes action.

So if you need an Uber to your next appointment NOX will book a trip. When you wake up in the morning, it'll give you a rundown of the meetings you have planned for the day. You can ask NOX to push one back if you have a conflict. It'll also call people on your behalf, book appointments, text your friends with updates on your life, and set goals and help you track them. The more memories and connections NOX accumulates about someone, the more it can refine its understanding of them and provide personalized insights.

We have over 500 users on the platform, including star athletes like professional Tennis player Reilly Opelka, and a waiting list of over 10,000.

It's us against the Goliaths.

I left Stanford in December to build full-time. I raised money a week after and have since landed checks from prominent angel investors and OpenAI's startup fund. I also assembled the most brilliant hackathoners worldwide by stalking sites like Github, ProductHunt, and Devpost (shoutout to our founding engineer, Aayush Pokharel). I convinced them to live with me on air mattresses in Palo Alto.

My life has been unstable throughout the process as I juggle commitments, hundreds of emails, and constant meetings. In some sense, I'm building NOX to help people like me stay sane. It reflects my attempts to balance my obsessive drive with genuine happiness — hacking until 3 a.m. and getting up for my 4-mile run at 8 a.m.

Some might say we're a group of college dropout nobodies gunning after a crown jewel: A personalized AI assistant. It's us against the Goliaths. How could we ever disrupt an industry and outpace major corporations?

But generative AI has made it easy to create something valuable fast. The rules are being rewritten at a breakneck pace, so the advantage has shifted toward the newcomers. After years of dreaming about building something big, the playing field feels level for the first time.

We're not making grand promises about the future. We're just focused on building something insanely cool and embracing imperfections.

You can sign up at heynox.com.